The Flowers of Love
Whether you love the romantic gestures or think it’s nothing more than a “Hallmark holiday,” Valentine’s Day is big business. The National Retail Federation estimates the average person will spend $126.03 this year – up 8.5 percent. All told, we’ll spend a collective $17.6 billion on this day of love.
While jewelry remains the top gift choice, about 36 percent will buy flowers, spending $1.8 billion to “say it with flowers.”
According to AboutFlowers.com, some 196 million roses were produced for Valentine’s Day 2011. And (not that this is that surprising) more men buy flowers for Valentine’s Day gifts (61 percent) than women. Mixed flowers and red roses are the most popular purchases.
SheKnows.com has some great facts about red roses:
– It was the favorite flower of Venus, the Roman goddess of love.
– The color red represents strong romantic feelings so red roses are the flower of love.
– California produces 60 percent of American roses but the large number sold for Valentine’s Day tend to be imported, mostly from South America.
– 189 million stems of roses are solid in the United States on Valentine’s Day.
Do you send red roses on Valentine’s Day or some other kind of flower? Let us know how you celebrate!